Future Living

Home Future Living Phase III 2026 - 2028

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Paul Rands
Paul Rands Managing Director

Future Living – phase III coming soon!

Overview

Future Living, the dynamic research project by the Future of Hospitality Institute, will continue with a third research phase starting in June 2026.

The project aims to identify emerging trends in accommodation demand and the new ways of living. In doing so it considers innovations that will positively impact serviced living concepts – from branded residences to student accommodation – which are best placed to provide solutions for this fast changing demand.

Serviced Living Wheel (2)

The glue that binds these concepts to our ‘serviced living’ wheel, is the focus they increasingly have on the user experience whether that be guest, resident or tenant, staying or living from a few days to 12 months +. This hospitality and service mindsight is shaping the conceptualisation of new brands in the sector.

The Future Living project brings together an international group of partners from different backgrounds (operators, investors, architects & designers, technology etc.), with the aim of building a collective intelligence contributing to identify those trends and innovations and exchange ideas and experiences.

The research project was launched in 2022, and after the conclusion of the successful phase II, it will start its third two year phase in the summer of 2026.

Research focus

The third phase of the research project will take the learnings and research conducted from the previous phases of the project, consultations from the partners and insight from industry, as the ground for the upcoming research topics and questions.

Principal research topics will be the next generation of branded residences and the evolution of serviced apartments in what we see as v4.0 of the sector. We will continue to explore wellbeing in the context of serviced living with a particular focus on creating spaces and experiences to enhance longevity and with an eye on AI we will further explore the role of technology and automation.

We will use our four main pillars of research when addressing the research topics which in turn ensures that insight can be gained for our partners that is relevant across the serviced living spectrum whatever your specific area of interest:

  • User experience: what are the main factors playing a role in the user experience across different serviced living concepts. Emotions and wellbeing are now “a must” in the user experience, how can we trigger and address them at precise moments in the user journey for them to bring real value.
  • Architecture & Planning: what are the user needs and desires around the design of living spaces across the different life stages; how should ancillary spaces be designed and thought out to match changing demand; how to integrate and make use of urban spaces; what is the value of interstitial (in-between) spaces that act as social buffers binding communities together.
  • Digitalisation & Technology: what are the new possibilities for digitalisation to enable connection with new target segments, communicate with current users, and improve the whole stay experience; how hybrid the user experience should be according to the needs of specific segments and markets; what are the opportunities that digitalisation offers to understand the user’s needs; how should operators of serviced living respond to accelerating digitalisation in order to provide an outstanding user experience.
  • Sustainability: sustainability is in every step of the journey, and much has been done around the operation in hospitality, but what can we do to push sustainable behaviour across different segments, life stages, and serviced living concepts.

*Note: the research questions are being discussed with the Future Living project partners to design concrete research topics and questions, as well as to prototype research activities for market solutions.

 

Output

  • Reports in the shape of concrete recommendations and user scenarios.
  • Presentations, executive summaries, podcasts, and keynote presentations
  • In-meeting generated documentation based on input and feedback collected from external experts (research institutes, universities, professionals), research partners of the project, and the Future Living cohort.
  • Best-practice cases and on-site visits (during on site meetings) in the form of case cards with direct input from sources, containing relevant information and highlights that relate to the specific topics under review.

Meetings

Every three months, the Future Living cohort will come together to shape the research and/or discuss the results either at two-day meetings, in different cities around the globe, or in an online format. The onsite meetings are full of purpose-oriented activities related to the topic under discussion for that specific meeting, aiming to complement the discussions and boost brainstorming.

The research phase will commence in June 2026, and individual online onboarding will take place over the summer ahead of the first in-person 3 day gathering in Europe in late September 2026. Subsequent in-person gatherings occur in February 2027, September 2027, February 2028 and a final results meeting in Vienna in June 2028. Online afternoon meetings will take place in December 2026, June 2027, December 2027.

A glimpse to the project

Please click on the images below to see a larger view.